History of the harbour

A small fishing town famous for its oysters, with a beach that boats could be landed on – so why a harbour?

The answer is not to be found here, but a few miles south in the cathedral city of Canterbury.

All historic cities were established alongside, or straddling, rivers as these were important trade routes. Canterbury’s trade traveled along the River Stour, it’s estuary meeting the sea at Sandwich, enabling a connection with seaports here and in Europe.

For centuries, waterways were becoming increasingly silted. Whitstable became part of the solution to this, which is why the harbour exists today.

Timeline

1811 – Canals were well established as a reliable method of transporting goods around the country where coastal routes were not available. The St. Nicholas and Canterbury Canal Company was formed, and ordered a survey for a canal from Ashford to Canterbury and on to St. Nicholas Bay. No interest was found.

1823 – William James called upon ‘an inhabitant of Canterbury to consult on the subject of a Railway.’

1824 – Another plan surfaced, this time to widen and make the River Stour navigable from the sea to Fordwich, just outside Canterbury. This plan lasted longer, but when it went before Parliament the Commissioners of Sewers opposed it. The plan was redrawn and gained Royal Assent in 1825. Tenders were put out, but all of them exceeded the money available.

1824 – The first meeting of the Canterbury Rail Road Company. The prospectus and Bill were laid before Parliament.

1825 – The Bill for the Canterbury and Whitstable Railway gets its first reading in Parliament. The estimated cost was between £25,000 and £31,000. In June, the Bill receives the Royal Warrant. In August, George Stephenson visits Canterbury, then sends his assistant, Joseph Locke, to layout the line. John Dixon begins work on the line in October of the same year.

1826 – The plan for widening the Stour was withdrawn. In November, parliamentary powers sought to increase the capital for the railway line by £19,000.

1827 – A breakthrough – communication between the north and south sides of the railway tunnel took place. Work was temporarily suspended in November for want of more capital. In May 1828, work resumed.

1830 – Invicta, the twentieth locomotive built by Stephenson, arrived at Whitstable by sea. A gala opening day was held on May 3rd for the Canterbury and Whitstable Railway, later to be known locally as the ‘Crab and Winkle Line’. Goods and passenger services began the next day.

Although the railway had been built, work took another 22 months to complete. To gain income, the railway carried passengers to and from Canterbury. When tickets were issued for this, the line became the world’s first regular passenger railway.

1832 – The first covered carriage was introduced, after complaints from passengers. Whitstable Harbour opened formally opened for trade on March 19th, with 10,000 people present. In doing so, it became the world’s first railway connected port.

1834 –On March 19th of this year, the world’s first Season Ticket and Family Tickets were issued.

During the ensuing years, the importance of the railway reduced, partly because of the shortcomings of the under-powered Invicta but mainly because regular passenger services had spread across the country and onto the rest of the world. By the 1870s the mainline from London was in place.

The line continued to be busy with freight, but passenger use fell with the use of the motor car and bus and road improvements. Nevertheless, Whitstable Harbour remained busy as the main port in East Kent.

By the 1930s, passenger trade had ended. The line eventually closed to freight on 29th November 1952. When the last train arrived at Whitstable Harbour, the station was decorated with flags designed by the local Boy Scouts, and crowds of Whitstable people came to say goodbye.

The Invicta locomotive survives in Canterbury Museum, having been restored by volunteers at York Railway Museum. It’s hoped that one day it will be sited in Whitstable, where it first arrived all those years ago.

The line itself is still accessible for the best part as the Crab and Winkle walking and cycling route.

The harbour remained in the ownership of the railway company and gradually went into decline. In 1958, Whitstable Urban District Council purchased the Harbour from British Rail. After local government reorganisation, this became part of Canterbury City Council.

Today, the harbour is managed by the Whitstable Harbour Board committee, consisting mainly of Whitstable councillors, working together with skilled independent members and the Harbour Master.

1940s_Harbour_Trucks_01A harbour view from the 1940s from Deadman’s Corner - so called because anything washed into the harbour gets deposited at this corner of the South and East Quays by the eddy currents.

1940s_Whelk_BoatsWhelks boats in the 1940s. Whelkers from Sheringham in Norfolk arrived in Whitstable around 1910 and integrated into the fishing community with their double ended vessels.

1947_St_Agnes_Harbour_Ice1947 – A frozen sea. Smaller working boats including an Oyster Smack take shelter. The “F” on the boats’ numbers signifies Faversham where our vessels were registered.

1960s_Grain_Silo1960 – The West Quay with its Grain Silo. In this period the transportation of grain by water was still the preferred route.

1962-63_harbour_woodAnother frozen harbour in the cold winter of 1962-63. Both the South and West Quays are full of imported timber. A very commercial harbour with no access to the public.

1965_Pleasure_BoatsThe harbour, like Whitstable itself, has always evolved to survive and prosper. Here in 1965, commerce and industry merge with private boats and yachts.

1966_Maunsell_FortsThe WWW2 Maunsell Forts in the estuary off Whitstable pictured in 1966. From Defence to Pop Pirate Radio Station, and now along with the Windfarm and basking seals, these can be viewed with summer trips on the sailing barge 'Greta' from the harbour.

1970s_HarbourAn aerial shot of the harbour in the 1970s, showing the extent of its footprint. Today it is still part industrial, but mixes that with commerce based on the South Quay and a safe environment for the public to enjoy at any time of the year.

1970s_Industrial_South_QuayWorking on the South Quay in 1973. This view includes parts of buildings that remain today, but it’s food and views that are being served here now, not lorries.

1970s_Whitstable_Harbour_pc_007A colourful picture postcard from the 1970s, with a busy harbour including a wide variety of working boats.

1974_Working_South_Quay_011974 – A busy and dusty South Quay with no room for people.

1830_Invicta_01The Invicta locomotive built by Stephenson to run on the Canterbury and Whitstable Railway. It survives to this day.

1830_Invicta_1st_trip_to_HarbourThe inaugural journey from Canterbury on the new railway, arriving at Whitstable on 3 March 1830.

1832_harbour_planThe first plan of Whitstable Harbour. The backwater which held back the diverted Gorrell Stream is now a car park covered tank. Early steam engines burned coke, not coal, hence the coke ovens.

1880s_Whitstable_HarbourA view of the Harbour in the 1880s, looking toward the East Quay. Coal trucks are lined up on railway lines on all the quays.

1890s_Whitstable_Harbour_pcA rare view from the 1890s looking into the harbour entrance at low tide. The 'Lighthouse' housed a steam powered winding wheel which pulled the train on the last part of its journey.

1890s_Whitstable_Harbour_pc_02A shot of the East Quay in the 1890s with some of the fleet that worked the ‘coal run’ bringing coal from Sunderland and Newcastle to power east Kent.

1900_Jumping CoalsUnloading a ship around 1900 was a manual job. Stevedores, holding a rope from a mast pulley, climbed the steps then jumped off, running along the quay to lift the bags of coal - hence 'jumping the coals'.

1920s_West_and_East_QuaysThe harbour, pictured here in the 1920s, was designed to enable railway trucks to get to the edge of all the quays. At the West Quay, horses pulled the trucks, two turntables allowing them to turn the corners.

Harbour-war-horses-1940The harbour horses were stabled in what is now the Whitstable Marine building by the west gate. This picture shows J W Eldridge and C Willis with two in the late 1940s when they were retired. Photo credit - Kent Photo Archive.